2009
How it started
In 2009 Triumph International, an undergarment factory, closed without notice to its workers. The company was restructuring, and part of it was getting rid of regular, unionized workers and replacing them with contractual jobs.
That same year, thousands of workers in other factories faced the same fate: flexible labor forced into contractualization. The women workers of Triumph International, with other cause-oriented groups, founded Defend Jobs Philippines as a campaign center to protect workers against massive violations of labor rights.
Since then, our main advocacy and lobbying has been for the abolition of contractualization.
Mission
To defend the right to work and the right to adequate housing of workers and the urban poor, through campaigns, documentation, legal and paralegal help, education and organizing.
Vision
A Philippines where every worker has a secure job, a living wage and a decent home, and every poor community lives with dignity and justice.
Draft wording from DJP’s 2026 cover letter, for DJP to confirm.
What we do
- Documentation of labor and housing-rights violations
- Campaigns for decent work, housing and human rights
- Legal and paralegal assistance to distressed workers
- Livelihood programs for displaced workers